Provenance of far-traveled nappes in the eastern Mediterranean (Uppermost Unit, Crete): constraints from U–Pb zircon ages of detrital and igneous zircons

  • New U–Pb ages of detrital and igneous zircons of the Uppermost Unit of Crete shed light on its provenance and on Eohellenic to Eoalpine imprints in the eastern Mediterranean. The detrital zircons of all nappes show Variscan ages and are characterized by a Minoan-type age spectrum, which is typical for the NE margin of Gondwana. Parts of the metasedimentary rocks are unexpectedly young. Their detrital zircon ages continue via the Permian until the Late Triassic, Middle Jurassic and Early Cretaceous. The high-grade metamorphic rocks of the Asterousia crystalline complex are likely equivalents of the low-grade metamorphic trench and fore-arc deposits of the Vatos nappe pointing to Late Cretaceous slab roll back. The presence of both late Permian detrital zircons and Late Cretaceous arc-type granitoids suggest that the Uppermost Unit of Crete is derived from the late Permian/Late Cretaceous magmatic belt situated north of the Sava–Vardar–Izmir–Ankara Suture in the Strandja–Rhodope area. To achieve their recent position on Crete, the nappes had to travel more than 500 km. The traveling path is well tracked by rocks of the Upper Cycladic Unit, which are similar to those of the Uppermost Unit of Crete. The large displacement of the Cretan nappes was controlled not only by nappe transport, but probably also by dextral strike–slip along the North Anatolian Fault Zone and related counterclockwise rotation of the Anatolian block since the Eocene.

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Author:Gernold ZulaufORCiDGND, Wolfgang DörrGND, Richard AlbertORCiDGND, Silviu-Octavian MarthaORCiDGND, Paraskevas XypoliasORCiD
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-856455
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-023-02356-9
ISSN:1437-3262
Parent Title (English):International journal of earth sciences
Publisher:Springer
Place of publication:Berlin ; Heidelberg
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2023/11/04
Date of first Publication:2023/11/04
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2024/06/11
Volume:113.2023
Issue:1
Page Number:25
First Page:23
Last Page:47
HeBIS-PPN:52082315X
Institutes:Geowissenschaften / Geographie / Geowissenschaften
Angeschlossene und kooperierende Institutionen / Senckenbergische Naturforschende Gesellschaft
Dewey Decimal Classification:5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 55 Geowissenschaften, Geologie / 550 Geowissenschaften
Sammlungen:Universitätspublikationen
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - CC BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International